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Winter Storm Set To Impact 62 Million People Across The U.S.; Driver Who Caused Vegas Explosion Was Active-Duty Soldier; Source: NOLA Opted Not To Use Temporary Barriers Before Attack; Sources: Trump Wants To Move Agenda In One Big Policy Bill; Senate Majority Leader Thune Vows To Preserve The Filibuster; Carter Remembered As An Elder Statesman And Human Rights Pioneer; Biden Awards Medal Of Freedom To 19 Recipients At White House; Surgeon General Sounds Alarm On Alcohol. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired January 04, 2025 - 18:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[18:00:57]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean in New York, and we begin this hour with breaking news as more than 62 million people are set to feel the worst of the winter as a powerful storm stretches across 1,300 miles this weekend.

Freezing rain and high winds already hitting the plains with potentially historic snowfall expected tomorrow. More than 30 states are currently under winter weather alerts, with officials urging people to stay home and stay off the roads.

A look at I-70 in Kansas City shows you why, as conditions are only getting worse out there.

Meteorologist Elisa Raffa is tracking the latest conditions from the CNN Weather Center. Elisa, many people potentially going to be affected by this. When might we see the worst of it?

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We are still bracing for the worst of it tomorrow, and Kansas City has had so many problems already today. That's just the appetizer.

The radar has only had a little bit amount of freezing rain, which just goes to show you don't need a lot of ice to cause problems. The impacts span from the Central Plains, we are talking Kansas and Missouri all the way to the Mid-Atlantic, Washington, DC by Monday.

We are talking about difficult to nearly impossible travel, heavy and blowing snow, significant ice, and that will cause sporadic power outages.

In fact, for some parts, we are even looking at extreme impacts that the Weather Service is calling it a major disruption to daily life from Louisville over towards Evansville, there in the purple, and that is because of this significant icing that can happen. It weighs down trees and power lines.

I mean, look at the alerts. We have a new blizzard warning in effect now from Wichita to Kansas City, because you'll have that heavy snow blow around and drop visibility. You have the ice storm warning, which you don't see these all too often. South Central Missouri, the bottom tip of Illinois, and then parts of Kentucky where that ice would be significant.

And the winter alerts again continuing to be issued, stretching all the way to the East Coast, more than 1,400 miles for these alerts. Just incredible.

So the storm continues to blow up as we go into tomorrow. We are looking at heavy snow and ice as that cold air squeezes in all of this moisture from the Gulf, and really just creates a recipe for just heavy, all of this snow, ice, rain as we go through the day tomorrow.

Then it continues to push east. The Monday morning commute looks like a mess for some places like Charlotte, DC and Philly. Some of it with snow and ice, some of it with that heavy rain. So just really incredible.

When it comes to that snow footprint, look at how far stretching it is. Looking at the heaviest totals for parts of Kansas and Missouri, some six to twelve inches there, some totals over a foot possible. Where you don't get the heavy snow, you get the heavy ice.

Look at these ice totals, looking at a half an inch to three quarters of an inch of ice for parts of Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky. When you have ice like that, it can get very heavy on the tree limbs and the power lines weighing them down, and that is where you get some significant outages possible -- Jessica.

DEAN: And Elisa, just looking at that ice, it certainly looks concerning. Why is that such a risk with this storm?

RAFFA: Yes, it is unique. It doesn't happen in every winter storm. And what is happening is we actually have a wedge of warm air coming into this storm, and it seems counterintuitive, right? How could warm air give you ice? But what is happening is, as the snow and rain is falling out of the clouds, what this warm air does is it will kind of melt and refreeze anything that is in the middle of the air, so you have this cold, freezing air just only at the bottom and its warm over here. You have rain falling until it hits the cold air and then its freezing on contact. That is freezing rain.

If you have that wedge of cold air a little bit deeper, then it refreezes into those ice pellets and you get sleet, or if it is all cold, then you get snow.

So this is why this forecast has been so difficult, because you get just two degrees difference of change anywhere in this part of the atmosphere and it could totally change your precipitation type from sleet to freezing rain to snow, changing those impacts and making it very difficult, which is why this is just going to be so far spanning and also including some severe weather -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right, Elisa Raffa, thanks for walking us through that. We appreciate it. Investigators are poring over what they say is, "a lot of content" recovered from one of the phones of the driver responsible for an explosion in Las Vegas. He has been identified as active duty Army Green Beret Matthew Alan Livelsberger.

[18:05:07 ]

CNN national correspondent, Natasha Chen is joining us now and Natasha, investigators are trying to figure out what a possible motive might have been. What are they saying today?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica, they are scratching the surface of these devices. There is a lot of data on them. One phone, they were able to recover some letters that were written, they believe, by Livelsberger.

One of them calls for action to remove Democrats from the federal government and the military, including the possibility of occupying roads and federal buildings, not ruling out the use of force.

Another letter talks about his grievances in politics and grievances in society and culture, expressed support for President Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

Let's read you some of the excerpts that investigators read to the media during a press briefing, in hopes that the context would shed some light, perhaps on his state of mind.

One says, "Time to wake up. We are being led by weak and feckless leadership, who only serve to enrich themselves."

Another excerpt says "Why did I personally do it now? I needed to cleanse my mind of the brothers I've lost and relieve myself of the burden of the lives I took."

And another excerpt says, "We are the United States of America, the best country people to ever exist, but right now we are terminally ill and headed toward collapse."

Now, he had visited the military behavioral health program multiple times in recent months and was diagnosed with depression last year, but he had not been assessed to be a risk to harm himself or others.

The day before this explosion, he had sent an e-mail to some online media outlets saying that he was armed and that he had a vehicle borne improvised explosive device. So authorities are really looking through his phone data now to see what else he might have written. There seems to be a log of activity that he wrote for the ten days leading up to this explosion.

Again, he had rented this cybertruck, driven it from Colorado to Nevada, purchased two guns legally shortly before this happened, and investigators say he killed himself and set off these explosives almost at the same time, right in front of that Trump Hotel on New Year's Day.

Seven people in the vicinity had minor injuries, but they were treated and released -- Jessica.

DEAN: Natasha Chen, thanks so much for that update.

We are also learning new details about the New Orleans terror attack, which killed 14 people. CNN is learning the current New Orleans city council president is creating a fact-finding committee to review the implications of that attack.

CNN's Randi Kaye has more on the security shortcomings that officials were warned about five years ago, as well as the effort to address them, which, sadly, were simply not completed in time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Keeping Bourbon Street safe for New Year's Eve revelers was priority number one. So what happened?

ANNE KIRKPATRICK, NEW ORLEANS POLICE DEPARTMENT SUPERINTENDENT: This particular terrorist drove around onto the sidewalk and got around the hard target. We did indeed have a plan, but the terrorist defeated it.

KAYE (on camera): I'm at the corner of Bourbon and Canal Street, and this is where the city parked that police vehicle on New Year's Eve, what they refer to as the hard target. But the suspect managed to jump the curb with his truck maneuvering around that police vehicle, then raced down Bourbon Street.

KAYE (voice over): The city's more permanent barriers are bollards like these, portable steel structures that were designed to prevent vehicles from entering Bourbon Street. They move up and down and can either lay flat or be raised to close the street to traffic when needed to protect pedestrians.

Despite warnings years ago that this area was at risk for terrorism, including vehicular attacks, the bollards were not used. When the attack happened, the bollards were under construction and in the process of being repaired.

JIMMY COTHRAN, WITNESS: Those barricades were not up, period. They had the flimsy orange ones that you could just push over with your finger. We actually thought it was kind of odd.

KAYE (voice over):The city's explanation.

MAYOR LATOYA CANTRELL, NEW ORLEANS: Bollards were not up because they are near completion, with the expectation of being completed of course, by Super Bowl.

KAYE (voice over): All of this despite an alarming report from a private security firm in 2019 that warned the risk of terrorism in the French Quarter remained highly possible, while moderately probable. The report warned specifically about vehicle ramming and recommended fixing the barriers immediately.

KAYE (on camera): A source familiar with that 2019 report told CNN that New Orleans does own the type of temporary barrier that could have been used on New Year's Eve to block access to Bourbon Street, but decided not to use it. Now, the New Orleans City Council is trying to figure out why Bourbon Street was left vulnerable to attack.

JEAN-PAUL MORRELL, NEW ORLEANS COUNCILMEMBER-AT-LARGE: We have had some contradictory messages from internally as far as when the work was awarded and when it should have started. We are going to do our own deep dive investigation over the coming weeks to go into that.

[18:10:06]

KAYE (voice over): This Department of Public Works plan obtained by CNN, shows work began on the bollards on November 18th. This photo from a December 19th update shows the area at Bourbon and Canal Streets under construction. That is exactly where the suspect entered and began his attack.

The update also says bollard installation was, "happening at Canal and Bourbon." According to this plan, the work was supposed to continue through January.

JOSE LIERAS, WITNESS: I don't think they should let any vehicles at all. It should always be blocked off at nighttime because something like this could happen.

KAYE (voice over): Randi Kaye, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Randi, thank you so much for that.

And joining us now is former Defense Secretary under President Trump and CNN global affairs analyst, Mark Esper.

Secretary Esper, thanks so much for being here with us. I want to ask you first about --

MARK ESPER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Hey, good afternoon, Jessica.

DEAN: Happy New Year.

I want to ask you first about this bulletin issued Friday by the FBI, the Department of Homeland security, and the National Counterterrorism Center that warned of copycat vehicle ramming attacks that could potentially happen.

How serious of a risk would you assess that to be?

ESPER: Well, I think it is a serious risk, and I think it is prudent to put it out. We often see copycats when these types of events happen, and we have a number of important events coming up. We have President Carter's funeral coming up, but also inauguration, the Super Bowl. So a number of high profile events coming up that might attract somebody who wants to make a name for himself or herself, or who wants to advance their cause.

So I think it is very smart to take extra precautionary measures.

DEAN: And I've been struck by just the miscommunication here that has kind of plagued this entire thing. We were talking last hour with the council member from New Orleans. He was saying that one of the key things they are trying to do moving forward is strengthen their relationships and their communication with the federal authorities -- the local authorities, and the federal authorities.

Why do you think that happened? I know that that was a key takeaway from 9/11, too, was just not people not being able to communicate with one another. Have we gotten better at that or is that still a problem?

ESPER: Yes, it is a great question. We did take a number of initiatives after 9/11. I was working on Capitol Hill at the time, and I know it was everything from, you know, enhanced coordination and integration between federal, state, and local entities. It was putting up wireless communication networks so we could talk. It was the discussion about sharing information more broadly and vertically.

And you know, the immediate task that you spoke about on your previous segment, why those bollards weren't prepared after five years of notice and a mid-level probability of something happened, just is flummoxing. So there is going to have to be some accountability here to wonder why this didn't happen.

And everybody knows look, New Orleans is a high profile city. It attracts a lot of people. And if you've been here, I am sure you probably have, Jessica, those streets are always crowded. They're ripe for somebody trying to drive right down the middle to endanger people, to run people over.

DEAN: I want to ask you too about this specific incident because the attacker had an ISIS flag in his vehicle. The FBI has said he was 100 percent inspired by the terror group. As of now, no ISIS figures have claimed responsibility about this attack. What does that say to you?

ESPER: Well, it says that ISIS is alive and well. We know that's true abroad because they are active in over a dozen countries, principally, of course, the Middle East, Iraq and Syria. But they are also active in Africa. They're active in Afghanistan and also getting into Southeast Asia.

A big part of what their pitch is, their propaganda is to inspire people online, the so-called lone wolves, and we've had an uptick of that in the last year or so as well, in the wake of Israel's assault on Gaza and what is happening in the Middle East.

So we see these lone wolves attacks pick up. We've had several in the last year as well in the United States and Europe principally. And so this is not unusual, unfortunately.

DEAN: Yes, and you mentioned New Orleans, the Super Bowl will be there. Of course, we have many major high profile events, including the inauguration, as you noted, on January 20th. We have January 6th, in which they're going to certify the election. These are big security events that obviously each have their own profile, but we have federal authorities in DC taking over what is happening in DC, making it a special security event, which is a type of designation.

Are you confident that that we can keep people safe at these big events in the coming weeks and months?

ESPER: Well, I am confident that we are working it hard. We should have every reason to believe that we can keep people safe, but it is a combination of, you know, good intelligence work, good coordination between local authorities.

It is having the right people in place, law enforcement and others as need be, and making sure you're taking a look at every possible opportunity out there.

[18:15:00]

And, Jessica, keep in mind, it was just a month or so ago, we were worried about drones flying overhead. So that's another increasing threat that we see at these, what we call National Security special events is the prevalence of use of drones. And are they simply recreational drones or people who are trying to watch the event, or do they have some type of malevolent intent behind the person using them.

DEAN: Yes. And going back to those, the lone wolf that you were talking about, we know that the Biden administration has raised concerns that ISIS may take advantage of this leadership vacuum in Syria. That's been a real concern after the toppling of the Assad regime. What do you think of that? And just again, this idea that used to be to be radicalized, you had to go to these places, or oftentimes people would go to these places.

Now with being -- you don't even need -- you don't even need a laptop, you need a phone and you can access some of this stuff.

ESPER: Well, you know, when it comes to Syria, we know that, you know, the group HTS is in charge. They are trying to consolidate their gains. People are trying to make a number of moves. People, I mean, groups to capitalize on a situation, you know, at the time that when the Assad regime fell, keep in mind that the Biden administration, the military struck 75 targets, ISIS targets to knock them down.

But there is still conflict there in Western Syria and Iraq, and it is interesting, you know, the last few years, Iraq is trying to push the United States out to kind of downgrade our involvement in Iraq because we had a very important ISIS counterterrorism mission there. And now, in the last week or so, they're coming back to us saying, look, you know, maybe we need your help. Maybe we need you to stay. Don't leave just yet.

And as has also been reported, the United States Military did double its presence in Syria. So I think it seems we are making all the right moves. I think it is something we need to be very careful of. But again, keep in mind this ISIS is an ideology. You can't necessarily stamp it out, but you do have to pursue that tactic of mowing the lawn every now and then and it is not just in the Middle East.

Again, it is Africa, it is Southeast Asia, its elsewhere and we are just going to have to stay on our toes here as this continues to grow.

DEAN: So it sounds like you think that keeping troops there in Syria is the right move, if I am understanding you correctly.

ESPER: Well, we have to see how it lays down with the new government in Syria, how that works. We have to see whether we will still have the support of our hosts in Iraq if they want that to continue.

Of course, we have a relationship with Jordan and other countries in the region, and so I think we have to lay all of that out. But I do think it is in our interests to keep certainly an eye on what is going on and have the capability, if need be, to use lethal force to take out ISIS leaders, to take out groups, to knock out training camps.

You know, I think Central Command, which has responsibility for that region over the past year or so, has conducted nearly 200 attacks against ISIS trying to keep them down. So this is an ongoing fight that doesn't get much press attention. But it is important, I think, to fight that over there than to face threats that we might face back here.

DEAN: Yes, and there is also the communication of it all, and especially in these moments like this terrorist attack that we saw, things you don't know a lot at the beginning, and people are obviously very scared.

Hours after the attack, President-elect trump falsely linked that New Orleans terrorist attack to migrants and what he called Americas open borders, when in reality, the suspect was a Texas born US citizen. Are you concerned about false narratives like that? Or, you know, what were your thoughts around how that played out?

ESPER: Sure. No, you're always concerned about false narratives. That is why I think it is always important to take your time, let law enforcement do its work. What you don't want to do is make the American people unhappy, or to jump to some type of suspicion or conspiracy. Frankly, we had that happen in New Jersey with the drones, right? There was no reporting, no communication, effective communication for a couple of weeks and conspiracies were all over the place.

But when you're talking about a terrorist attack, you want to get your facts right. You want to put out as much as you can as soon as you can, but don't jump to any conclusion based on the person's name or their ethnicity or what they may have done in their past. I think you have to really tease it out and find out what is going on and where the linkages are.

And look, lone wolves are the toughest because there is no linkage. They are finding this online. They are looking for some type of source, some purpose, some belonging or some other reason. And this is the most difficult thing to confront.

DEAN: All right, Secretary Mark Esper, always good to see you. Thanks again for being here.

ESPER: Thanks, Jessica.

DEAN: Still ahead, House Speaker Mike Johnson is wasting no time pushing President-elect Trump's agenda. How he is charting that course ahead. We will break it down with our political panel.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:23:06]

DEAN: Tonight, we are learning just how President-elect Donald Trump plans to get his ambitious agenda across the finish line. Sources telling CNN, House Speaker Mike Johnson spoke with fellow Republican lawmakers at a closed door meeting today, saying Trump expects some of his biggest campaign promises on energy, tax policy, and the border to pass through Congress in one big legislative package.

Last hour, I spoke with Republican Congressman Rich McCormick, who was at that meeting. Here is what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RICH MCCORMICK (R-GA): It is going to be very difficult, but everybody has the idea that we want to get something done historically.

A lot of times, quite frankly, when the Republicans take over and we have both the -- when we have the trifecta, we don't get things across the finish line because we are not working well together. I think this is the first time in a very long time that the Speaker and the Senate leader both are going to be working hand in hand to get this across the finish line, along with the president's guidance, and make sure we deliver on the things that we ran on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: The Congressman telling us that incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune was also at that meeting today, as well as Stephen Miller and they are all on board with this plan trying to coordinate.

Joining us now, CNN senior political commentator and former special assistant to President George W. Bush, Scott Jennings, and Democratic strategist and former spokesperson for the Al Gore campaign for president, Christy Setzer.

It is great to have both of you here. Thanks for being here.

Scott, I want to start first with you. This idea that they are going to do one big bill, which we you know, John Thune at one point was saying, let's try to break this up and make it a little easier on ourselves. This is hard stuff to do, and you really have to keep everyone in line.

How confident are you that they can be successful at this?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think they can be successful. I think it is going to be incredibly hard, I think it will be hard in the Senate for sure. I think over in the House, you know, there is going to be a lot of pressure for everyone to be on the team, be part of the team and go in for the big winning touchdown, which if they can get all this rolled into one, it would be a big touchdown for Donald Trump.

[18:25:00]

But you look at all the priorities that they are talking about: Extension of the tax cuts, energy, immigration, I mean, all of the things that Trump ran on, it is all the things that every Republican ran on this year or in years past.

And so there is nothing in this that would be anathema to normal Republican priorities. And certainly it is what they told the voters they were going to do.

So I think Trump's strategic thinking here is right, and that is if we can get it all done in one big lick, let's do it. And now it will be up to Mike Johnson and John Thune to make it a reality. It is certainly going to be a difficult process, but if they pull this off, it will be a historic bill.

DEAN: Yes, I covered when the Democrats did their reconciliation a couple of years ago. It is quite a process. And Christy, Johnson has this very, very slim majority.

CHRISTY SETZER, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST AND FORMER SPOKESPERSON FOR THE AL GORE CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENT: Yes.

DEAN: You know, it is a slimmer majority than Republicans weirdly have in the Senate. How do you expect that to play out and what role, if any, do Democrats play here?

SETZER: I mean, I don't expect it to play out very well. I think that Speaker Johnson got very lucky on getting his votes through on the first ballot, but I don't actually expect that cohesion to continue.

Look, he still has a pretty big problem with the House Freedom Caucus. And of course, that's before he gets to how he is going to be working with Democrats. And then over in the Senate, of course, you have John Thune, who is unlike McConnell, he is not somebody who rules with an iron fist.

And so look, they are dreaming big and that's great. That's wonderful, but I don't see that with this incredibly slim majority where they cannot lose more than one person, that they are going to be able to pull very much off at all. I still think this is going to be a Congress of chaos and dysfunction, and the type of thing that we saw when Kevin McCarthy was Speaker.

DEAN: And Scott, Christy talks about the House Freedom Caucus. Look, we even saw it, ultimately, Johnson did get there. But you could start to see kind of a few of the cracks there with people who have been specifically very concerned about the debt and that seems to be a key issue for them.

And we know that the previous Trump tax law added to the debt. How do you think -- and then there is the whole question of the debt ceiling and what they're going to do with that.

How does Johnson start to bob and weave around those particular concerns?

JENNINGS: Well, I think they are very concerned about debt, government spending, government bloat. And certainly there are ways to cut unnecessary spending and scale back the size of government.

I mean, if Republicans manage to do that, not just the House Freedom Caucus would be happy about it, but every Republican would rejoice.

I think when you look at this in total, though, these Republicans that got elected along with Donald Trump, they didn't get elected by those same voters to go up to Washington and oppose Donald Trump. And if Donald Trump says we are going to do energy, we are going to do immigration, we are going to extend the tax cuts, we are going to do the Republican platform. There is going to be an enormous amount of pressure on these guys from back home and from Trump on top of them to go ahead and get it done.

But I agree with you, I do think there is going to be some pressure from those people who were holding out against Johnson to try to show some movement towards reining in spending, reducing the debt, and reducing the size of government.

I think Trump is going to have to give them something on that and I am certain that throughout the course of this year, that's going to be part of the conversation.

Republicans need to deliver a couple of things: Movement for the American people on the issues that they voted on, and also movement for conservatives who believe that government has gotten too big and too out of control.

DEAN: Christy, what are your thoughts on that?

SETZER: I would say that again, they're going to have a tough time because particularly on the Trump tax cuts, obviously Democrats are going to fight that tooth and nail. It is not just something that exploded the debt, it is also something that is really symbolic for Democrats of giving all of the benefits to extremely wealthy people while the rest of us suffer or don't get anything. So that's definitely going to be a big fight.

And then there is also the ways in which especially conservative Republicans are going to want to make cuts, which are basically cuts that we think are things that will hurt seniors, poor people, veterans, you know, sort of constituency groups that actually were really core to President Trump's win, and Democrats are the ones who every time go to protect them. So I would say that if they are going to want any sort of concessions from Democrats, whether it is to support this big package in its entirety or even big pieces of it, but there is going to have to be concessions that, for Democrats, look like spending increases on core values, right?

So they are on this really tough collision course right now.

JENNINGS: Jessica, if I may, just one community note for the record --

DEAN: Yes, go ahead.

JENNINGS: The Trump tax cuts cut taxes for virtually everyone who pays taxes. It wasn't just a tax cut for wealthy. Everyone who pays taxes got a tax cut. Extending these tax cuts would be tax cuts for everyone who pays taxes.

And so this was like one of the biggest lies told about the bill when it passed in the first place, but there is verified absolutely verified reporting from numerous reputable news sources that virtually everyone who pays taxes got a tax cut. That's what Republicans stand for.

[18:30:14]

DEAN: Go ahead, Christy. Do you want to jump in there?

SETZER: Wealthy got, by far, the biggest share of that, Scott, as you know.

JENNINGS: No. Everybody who pays taxes got a tax cut.

SETZER: Okay. Sure.

DEAN: Scott, I want to jump over to the Senate for one second, because John Thune has vowed to keep that 60-vote filibuster in place. There's been so much talk about the filibuster over the years. Some Democrats have wanted to end - at some point everybody or there are - you know, people from both parties have said maybe we should get rid of it.

SETZER: Yes.

DEAN: But they're going to keep it in place. It ultimately was kept in place while Democrats were in control. Do you think that's going to continue to be a conversation forever or do you think - what do you - how do you think that goes moving forward? Because it really does - I don't have to tell either of you - hold - you know, the Senate just makes it very different than the House.

JENNINGS: Yes, the filibuster is what makes the Senate the Senate. It's necessary and it forces bipartisanship and you get better outcomes when you have both parties having to get to a 60-vote threshold. And that, of course, won't be the case on some of the issues we were just discussing if they go down the ...

DEAN: Right, because that's different, yes. JENNINGS: Right. But generally, this is what makes the Senate the Senate. Democrats, of course, save just a couple of them, thank God, they wanted to throw it out during the Biden years. That didn't happen, thanks to Sinema and Manchin.

Republicans have been pretty consistent on this when they had the Senate majority under Trump. Trump kind of discussed the idea of getting rid of it and McConnell on the Senate Republicans wouldn't do it. Thune is saying he's going to protect it.

So, of the two parties in the Senate, it's been the Republicans who've been more guardians of that institutional norm than Democrats. I expect it to hold for the next couple of years. But certainly, there are a bunch of politicians out there that would love to get rid of it and change the Senate to effectively something more like the House which in my opinion would be a complete and utter disaster.

DEAN: Yes. Christy, last word on that before we go?

SETZER: I think it's actually something where we are going to see commonality and common ground. I am pleased by the idea that Thune has been so vociferous in saying that he is going to protect the filibuster. I think it's something really important that keeps the Senate as the advisory body that it should be, so it's a great news.

DEAN: All right. Scott Jennings and Christy Setzer, we can leave there where everyone has joined hands and we can live in harmony. Okay, our thanks to both of you.

JENNINGS: Thank you.

DEAN: Still ahead, we're just ...

SETZER: Thank you.

DEAN: ... moments away from the public viewing for President Carter in Atlanta. We're going to go back to The Carter Center. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:36:09]

DEAN: From Georgia peanut farmer to commander-in-chief and Nobel Peace Prize recipient. The nation is honoring the life and legacy of the late President Jimmy Carter, the 39th President now lying-in repose at The Carter Center in Atlanta. And in just a few moments, the doors will be open to the public - any member of the public who wishes to pay their respects.

Earlier today, a moving service included prayers, song and somber reflection. And for more on that, we're joined now by Jeff Zeleny, CNN's Chief National Affairs Correspondent.

And Jeff, you're at The Carter Center where you've been for most of the day watching and observing all of this play out. Walk us through what we saw today and what stood out to you.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORREPONDENT: Jessica, certainly, the tapestry and the remarkable chapters of Jimmy Carter's life were playing out really as he went from Plains, Georgia to here in Atlanta. And, of course, that will continue next week in Washington.

But it was remarkable to see just each of these triumphs, sort of a moment of reflection and remembrance. And along the route - the motorcade route from Southern Georgia here to Atlanta, Chip Carter, the late President's son, said it was extraordinary to be inside the motorcade to be watching Georgians pay tribute along the route. He said at virtually every - overpass for more than 150 miles but certainly that was felt here at The Carter Center where the family arrived late this afternoon for a private family service.

Now, politics was rarely discussed today. In fact, Republican governor, Brian Kemp, met the motorcade at the Atlanta capitol here. That's where Jimmy Carter first served as a state senator and then governor, of course, before making that improbable run for president in 1976.

But Chip Carter did give a bit of a nod to the fact that his father was a one-term president, but that was hardly the end of his public life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES EARL "CHIP" CARTER III, JIMMY CARTER'S SON: Dad's legacy from Georgia and his governor's office and from the presidency was a little bit rough at the end of it because of our opposition and the way they framed us which was probably somewhat true and somewhat not. But all this stuff after that it's in the hands of the people that worked here and that still work here now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: All this stuff after that, of course, is his remarkable post presidency which stretched across more than four decades of public life. After losing the White House campaign in 1980, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter came back to Georgia unsure what their next steps would be. But a year later, they opened The Carter Center here and made an imprint around the world for generations.

There is no question as the public is going to be allowed in beginning at 7 PM Eastern Time as you said throughout the evening through all day tomorrow until Tuesday morning, Georgians certainly from all walks of life and far beyond are expected to pay tribute here to one of their own, Jimmy Carter.

DEAN: And Jeff, you kind of told us a little bit about this, but the coming days will bring so many more opportunities for people to say farewell.

ZELENY: It certainly will. This is the Georgia chapter of that. But on Tuesday, the Washington chapter begins and the 39th President, America's longest living president will be lying in state in the U.S. Capitol. And then, of course, his state funeral service will be on Thursday at the Washington National Cathedral. President Biden will be delivering a eulogy to his late friend, of course.

Then-Senator Biden was the first U.S. senator to endorse Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign, so we can be sure he will talk about that. But there is no doubt, many days of commemoration and celebrating his life and certainly learning more since he lived to be a hundred years old.

[18:40:03]

There are many people who simply do not know about all these chapters. The Carter family, The Carter Center is intent on sharing that with the world once again, Jessica.

DEAN: That's right. It was quite a life with so many chapters as you so eloquently put it. Jeff Zeleny, thank you so much we appreciate it.

And still ahead, Bill Nye, Jane Goodall, Magic Johnson, Hillary Clinton and more all at the White House today. We have more on President Biden's final White House Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[18:44:09]

DEAN: It was a star-studded affair today at the White House. President Biden awarding the highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 19 recipients. The honorees including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, actor Denzel Washington and fashion icon Ralph Lauren. CNN's Julia Benbrook is at the White House and joins us now with more on what we saw today. Julia?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there were 19 honorees in total and these - the people that received the Presidential Medal of Freedom represent a wide range of accomplishments in areas like philanthropy, politics, sports and the arts. And it is the nation's highest civilian honor.

The White House says it's reserved for people who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values or security of the United States, world peace or significant societal public or private endeavors.

[18:45:03]

Now, President Joe Biden presented each award today and he called this group of honorees an extraordinary group.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For the final time as president, I have the honor of bestowing the Medal of Freedom, our nation's highest civilian honor, on a group of extraordinary - truly extraordinary people who gave their sacred effort to shape the culture and the cause of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: Among those who received the award was Hillary Clinton. She also received a standing ovation when she was on stage. She was honored for her decades-long career in public service and her history- making moments throughout that career. Her time as First Lady, her time as U.S. Senator, as Secretary of State and as the first woman to lead a major party ticket as the Democratic nominee for president back in 2016.

During the program they said that her nomination for president broke barriers and inspired generations.

Also honored, design industry titan, Ralph Lauren, whose designs have long been a favorite of the Biden family. In fact, back in 2022 when one of Biden's granddaughters got married here at the White House, she wore one of Lauren's designs.

Renowned chef, Jose Andres was honored. His work with World Central Kitchen has provided large-scale relief for areas that have been affected by natural disasters or conflict around the world.

Again, 19 in total, so we're only scratching the surface here. But some of the others honored were world-renowned conservationists Jane Goodall, award-winning actor Denzel Washington, Bill Nye the science guy and legendary basketball player Magic Johnson.

DEAN: All right. Julia Benbrook, thanks so much for that.

Still ahead, a potential shift in the way our country views alcohol. Why the outgoing Surgeon General wants warning labels on booze like the ones that have been on cigarettes for decades.

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[18:51:13]

DEAN: America's top doctor is putting the spotlight on growing evidence of a link between alcohol and cancer. The U.S. Surgeon General warning that even drinking small amounts of alcoholic beverages could increase your risk of developing the potentially deadly disease. CNN's Brian Todd has more.

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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Straight off the holiday partying season, a stark warning about the effects of alcohol from America's top doctor. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a warning that alcohol consumption can increase our risk of cancer, and Dr. Murthy called for new warning labels on alcoholic beverages.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. BENJAMIN WEINBERG, GASTROINTESTINAL MEDICAL ONCOLOGIST: I think it really helps raise awareness that alcohol is a risk factor for certain diseases, including cancer, and that even lower levels of alcohol use can still be associated with the development of certain cancers.

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TODD (voice over): The Surgeon General's Office says alcohol is now the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States, behind tobacco and obesity.

Dr. Murthy said in a statement that alcohol is responsible for about 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths every year in the U.S., compared to 13,500 deaths associated with alcohol-related vehicle crashes every year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD (on camera): Dr. Murthy says a majority of Americans are unaware of this risk. How ignorant of it have we been?

WEINBERG: Yes. So, he showed in his survey data that less than half of Americans were aware that alcohol is a risk factor for the development of cancers, whereas more Americans were knowledgeable about other things, such as radiation, tobacco smoke, ultraviolet radiation from the sun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD (voice over): The surgeon general's advisory says the link between alcohol consumption and cancer risk is well-established for at least seven types of cancer breast, colorectal, esophagus, liver, mouth, throat and the larynx or voice box.

We asked MedStar Georgetown oncologist, Dr. Benjamin Weinberg, what exactly alcohol does to the body to cause some cancers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WEINBERG: Alcohol is broken down into acetaldehyde, which is a breakdown product that can inadvertently cause DNA damage, directly hurting our cells and sometimes causing cells to grow rapidly, causing cancers.

Another mechanism is that it can they can induce inflammation, which can be bad for our cells and also bad for our DNA. They can also raise levels of certain hormones like estrogen, which have specifically been linked to the development of breast cancers.

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TODD (voice over): Is any amount of booze okay? Does moderate drinking, say two drinks a day for men, one for women raise our risk?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WEINBERG: I would say try to drink one drink or less per day and one drink to keep in mind is five ounces of wine, 12 ounces of beer, 1.5 ounces of spirit. It's not a bottle of alcohol. It's not a six pack of beer, so people need to be aware of those quantities. (END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD (voice over): And some of the major spirits companies have been preparing for this news. Top brewers Molson Coors and Anheuser-Busch InBev, and major spirits producers Diageo and Pernod Ricard have all been boosting their portfolios of nonalcoholic drinks to address an increasing number of consumers who are ditching alcohol.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: As far as the new warning labels that Dr. Murthy is recommending are concerned, only Congress can mandate those. On the question of whether the incoming Trump administration would support the new labels, it's worth noting that President-elect Trump doesn't drink and that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's choice for Health and Human Services Secretary no longer drinks.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

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DEAN: All right. Brian Todd, thank you. And we'll be right back.

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[18:58:45]

DEAN: A new CNN film follows the legendary singer Luther Vandross through his life and his career from his formative years in Harlem to becoming one of the most influential artists of all time. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: During that time, we had this whole thing where the way that we used to get gigs is we would attend each other's session. And if incidentally they happened to need somebody to fill in, oh, my friend's a singer, he could definitely do it. And we always brought Luther.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, that looks great.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Luther started doing what he does which is start singing. When David put music on, he starts, you know, whatever humming in a way. And David was like, Wow, this guy's great.

David knew talent, and he whispered to me, he said, I love this guy. And I'm like, what's not to love?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: The new CNN film "Luther: Never Too Much" replays tonight at 9 PM Eastern right here on CNN.

[19:00:00]

Thanks so much for joining me this evening. I'm Jessica Dean. I'm going to see you again tomorrow night starting at 5 Eastern.